For the longest time I've had this recurring flash-back to a toy from my childhood. Sometimes certain colors would trigger it. Or a shape that I saw would bring it back to memory. But I could only remember that there was some thing from my childhood that these images were reminding me of. But I could never be sure exactly what it was.
It was like a vivid dream that you try to remember the next morning and you just can't. You know the feel of the dream, but you just can't remember what exactly happened in it.
I felt like it had to be a toy of some sort. Because for some reason, any time I had this flash-back, it would feel like Christmas. So I can remember that this mystery toy was a Christmas gift, but I can't remember what the thing itself is.
It was maddening. Like a thought that pops into your head. A good thought. And then not a second later, you've forgotten it.
Well, I finally figured it out. After probably 4 or so years of these flash-backs, I've remembered what it was that I was trying to remember: A Rubik's Magic Rings toy. After getting into this Rubik's cube phase a few months ago, I stumbled onto a website that sold various and sundry products of the Rubik's brand. And lo-and-behold. As soon as I saw it, I knew that's what I had been trying to recall. But I had to be certain. So I ordered one.
Sure enough, it's the one. It twists and folds into all sorts of shapes. It's kind of like a plastic brochure or map. You're supposed to mess up the ring formation and then try to solve it as if it were a puzzle, but I just like to move it around into different shapes. It's what I did as a kid and there's something nostalgic about those shapes I would make.
This particular part of the rings is what I remembered most - the red part.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. I paid about $20 to ship this thing over here from China because it was nowhere to be found State-side. $20 bucks! For shipping! That's ridiculous. But it was lure of nostalgia that got me. (And that nagging flash-back thing.)
Another in a series from Liam Sullivan's comedic surge. "Let me Borrow That Top" follows "Shoes" - one of his first posts that made it to YouTube's top 10 most viewed of 2007 with over 18 million views.
The notable difference in this video is the appearance of celebrities. Seems like his wave of success is gaining momentum.
So, any 'viral' tips/tricks/formulas to be learned by Liam? Probably. But I wouldn't want to ruin the after-glow.
You can find all his songs on iTunes. And thanks to David Southerland for showing me "Shoes" last year and helping co-write "Let's make some ads". It changed my life.
(* many of Liam's music videos are prefaced by a little sketch comedy that sets it up. This one, I think, is worth watching.)
I've been watching a good deal of Cops and Ninja Warrior (haven't seen it? you're missing out) on G4 lately. And in between the car chases, pavement tackles, and 'ninja killers' there's been this spot running that's promoting Super Bowl advertising brands. (Which is funny because many of the icons they show don't run Super Bowl spots).
So what is it?
This might help to explain:
The answer to TiVo? I don't know.
If you think about it, TiVo has created quite a conundrum for itself. On the one hand, it has been charged responsible for the demise of the traditional :30 spot, but on the other hand, it needs to advertise itself. Tricky trick.
I say, they aren't responsible for advertising's demise, but simply responsible for being a catalyst for change. And I don't think that's such a bad thing.
As long as there are brands, there will be demand for a means to promote it. It might not be called advertising anymore, but it's definitely something. Brandvertising?
In many ways face the same issues we do as advertisers. When I was at AdCenter/BrandCenter/the VCU Ad Grad School thing, we even had a few very interesting speakers on the subject.
They have to condense what should be a longer story into an unnatural :30 or :60.
They can't give too much away, but have to give enough away to pique interest.
And they have to stand out in a sea of other options movie-goers might have.
Here are a few of my favorites-
Let the pictures tell the story:
Let the words tell the story:
Let the guy tell the story (in a different way):
I was just thinking the other day about the "movie-guy" voice over. The pros and the cons of him.
On the one hand, as soon as you hear his voice your brain automatically realizes (without much thinking) that you're probably listening to a movie trailer. That's good, right? It's a quasi-brand association. It distinguishes them from the Swiffer spot that just came on and subversively tells the listener "hey! you wanted to see that new movie, right? here it is. check it out."
But on the other hand, every other movie trailer uses that VO.
So it distinguishes you and makes you the same all in one VO. So good or bad? I don't know.
There's something about the Rubik's cube. Maybe it's the symmetry of it all. Or the bright, basic colors. Whatever it is, I've come to appreciated it for some reason these past few weeks.
I had one growing up but never really learned to solve it. I could usually get a side or two before it infuriated me and I moved on to something else. Who knows what happened to that cube. But just before Christmas a few weeks ago I got a brand new shiny one.
I was at a Walgreens in Plano buying a star for my Christmas tree when it caught my eye. It was hanging by the register - one of those last-ditch attempts to get you to buy something on your way out. I was feeling nostalgic so I grabbed it and added it to my tab. This time, I was bent on learning how to solve it.
I knew there were formulas to get cubes to move around the way you wanted them to, so I checked the ever-so-handy resource, YouTube and found this. (And a bunch of links to 3 year olds solving the cube in about 30 seconds - made me feel good.)
A few days later, I got it. It's a great time pass and makes you look smart in front of those who can't solve it. Which is dumb because really, anyone can solve it.
I began wishing I had hundreds of them so they could be stacked side by side and made into an image or some sort of art installation. So I used the other-ever-so-handy resource, Google and found this.
And I'm sure there's hundreds like it. So many interesting things can be done with this cube. For me, it was interesting even before I knew how to solve it.
It has a certain intrigue I don't know how to define. And it seems to have created a whole culture that's just as unique.
(And all this without any advertising of note, and THIS is their website. Man. Good thing they have a good product.)
Though it did appear in this Monster.com Flash on their home page. This guy must work in advertising.
You just hired one of the few remaining creatives in the industry.
It's hard to keep thinking there are such things as unicorns when so many times you're told "no." It's easy enough to settle for a real and tangible horse after such rejection. But here's a guy who turns a deaf ear to the No-ers and the Shushers and anyone else who doesn't want to hear his off-the-wall theories on modern-day branding.
He's the one who, despite everything and everyone, will continue to believe that unicorns exist and the ad industry will be better because of it. He's the one who refuses to become another cynic-casualty of the advertising industry. The one who just won't settle for a horse when he knows there are unicorns to be had.
So there's 12 days till February 3. The day my little experiment in blogging is over. It marks the 31st, and last day hits will be counted from this site. It's all in an effort to get at least 1 person from each of our wonderous 50 states to hit everystate.blogspot.com before time has expired.
So, if you could, click on any of the links I've subversively placed throughout this post. There's no time requirement, so if you simply click on any of the links herein and X out of the window, it still counts! Amazing? I know.
Then maybe you could forward it using Super Wall or MySpace or an old fashioned email with threats of "something bad will happen to you if you don't send this to 50 people in the next 5 minutes." Or if you're into sending "positive messages," you can simply say "you will find your true love within 5 minutes of sending this to 5,000 people."
And if nothing else, you'll benefit from the recently added feature: a-poem-a-day.
A lot. Always. But especially if your father is a religious zealot who's out to teach the world a lesson.
Exhibit A: Omar bin Laden. Osama's baby boy who now resides in Egypt and is having a hard time finding sponsors for a multi-month horse race in the name of peace because his last name seems to conjure up everything BUT the thought of peace.
Uh oh. Sounds like a rebranding assignment. Or at least this article from CNN seems to think:
But I'm not sure it's that complicated. Imagine if someone whose last name represents pure-evil wanted to change things for the better. In my mind, the best person to champion the opposite of what some brand/name/thing stands for, is the brand/name/thing itself.
It's like The Grinch. Perhaps his father's heart is 2 sizes too small, but maybe Omar will find the strength of 10 bin Laden's times 2.
*on a slightly unrelated note, I'm a tad disappointed in CNN's recent decision to become Star magazine. Since when does "UFO images, stories swapped by Texans" constitute a real story?
I'm a pretty big, to moderately huge fan of The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. It's possibly the most irrelevant, relevant ad of modern times. Nice work Dos Equis. XX.
And although I'd never drink it because hard liquor now conjures up bad memories of Prom night, Ketel One ads are another favorite of mine. The simple one-liners are thought provoking and reek of that pungent fragrance, "Brand Essence." If only your product were as delicious as your advertising.
Good ads like these generally don't need explanations, but since it's out of context, here's a little background: This Kettle One ad is a 1page magazine ad. It's completely white, except for the type. So it's intuitive that you'd be on "this page" as you read the double entendre "seems like we're on the same page..." get it? eh?
Just in case you'd like the soothing effects of a smog-ridden city in your very own home, you can throw a little "Mexico City Yellow" on the walls and call it a day.
Who let this one slip? Or better yet, who got this one approved? I want him/her on my account team.
Way to go Ralph Lauren. Naming a paint color after a polluted city suffering severely from the effects of a depleting o-zone can now be crossed of the world's to-do list.
Apparently there's been a large number of iPod related pedestrian deaths in Australia. People listening to iPods (or any other head-phone-utilizing devices) are less likely to pay attention to or hear on-coming traffic. It's what prompted the NSW Police to launch a campaign to increase awareness of the issue.
Driving to work, I see a lot of people on bikes with headphones on. That seems to be an even bigger risk. So whether you're walking, biking, or sitting idly at your desk, be careful when you iPod.
Not sure of the agency, but pretty clever (and morbid and would never been done in the US. Thank God for Aussies).
You may have noticed in the right side-bar of this site that a few agencies have been noted for their exceptional efforts in creating top notch websites. For themselves.
Often times it seems agencies forget that they have to pimp themselves. Not just the fascinating array of brands that they represent.
Here's how an up and coming British agency called Nonsense is doing it - People's choice style.
They started-up in January '07 and by Fall '07 still didn't have a website. So in October of '07, they briefed themselves, came up with 3 concepts and posted them to the web, asking those who visited hightimewehadawebsite.co.uk to vote which idea they liked best.
Voting ended on Nov. 1, 2007 but I think it's still worth paying the site a visit. You can still view short video presentations of each of the 3 concepts (narrated by a fast-talking British accent) and you can track the site's progress by linking to their blog.
And besides, it'll give you a chance to practice your Cockney accent.
That's right. If you're hard pressed on deciding what to buy, base your decision on color. It seems kitchens have become so colorful that shopping by color is now a viable option.
Need a pink mixer? No prob. A red microwave? Done.
The boring kitchen of yesteryear with it's white fridge, black coffee-maker, and chrome toaster has just expired.
At the risk of sounding completely moronic (which is how I preface most of my thoughts), I think this pun is ok. Why? Because it is a completely unique way of visually and literally representing the mathematical terminology we've all come to love: the "square root."
It' funny when Donald Duck says it, but I'm not sure it'd be the same if Texas Instruments said it. I don't know.
*thanks for the link to the video for other purposes from Makin' Ads.
A few months ago I added code to this website to track my visitors. Don't be afraid. That first sentence makes it sound like I know more than I actually do. But as a copywriter, that's my job - it's an illooosion.
I have no idea what html stands for, but Google made it simple enough to attach a few scrambled words of nonsense to the end of my blogger template so I could see how many people visit my site each day and where they're from. That's about the extent of it.
I've had a few hits from crazy places like Pakistan and even crazier places like New Jersey. And there's something exciting about seeing all those little states fill up like patchy grass in a sun-scorched lawn. That gave me an idea to start a new site, Every State. It's got the simple goal of trying to get at least one person from each state in the US to hit the site within one month's time. A screen shot of the hit map will be posted each day and hopefully the patchy grass will become a lush lawn in 31 days.
With many of my friends on break from ad grad school all across the country (and one even heading to Hawaii - ca-ching) I figured this was an opportune time to solicit participation.
So I guess this constitutes shameless self promotion on my own site. Nice.
Culture is pretty amazing. You can take the simplest of things and find huge variances across different cultures.
Take for instance, water. Here in the U.S. we dress our water up like crazy. There's ice to make it oh-so-cool. There's a lemon - sometimes for garnish, sometimes for a subtle citrus shock in an otherwise tasteless medium. And there's the clear glass we drink it from. Usually medium in size and wet with condensation.
But when you step outside the borders of The United States, it all changes. Hardly anyone serves water with ice. I guess it's catching on now as the entire world becomes The Wild West. Even so, you'll still have a hard time finding Americanized Water in other countries.
I went to Spain a few years ago. We stayed in the Basque parts of Northern Spain in a little town called San Sebastian. (It had some of the best steaks, chocolates, and sunsets EVER. And a Basque Party street riot to boot!)
We went to a tiny restaurant during our time there and dug into some tasty tappas. They served us water with our meal. Tasteless, iceless, lemonless water. So I asked, in the best mexi-spanish I could muster, "Can I please have some lemon for my water?" Something like "Limon para mi agua, por favor?"
And with a few swift movements, the sharp waiter returned from the depths of the kitchen with a tall glass of lemonade. Shit.
So I quickly learned the word for "slices" ("rebinadas") and from there on out asked for "rebinadas de limon." It worked. Sometimes.
The reason all this comes up is because my Boy's parents are in town from Bombay, India. They hate ice water with a passion. And our glasses? Waaaaayyyy too big. They prefer smaller, metal glasses to our clear, giant glasses. And lemons? Are you kidding me?
We just spent the last week traveling across the southern states of the US (more on that later), Indian parents in-tow, and you would not believe the difficulty of ordering plain, iceless, lemonless, warm tap water in a Cracker Barrel. Try it. And don't be surprised when you get the weird look. You're in America, after all. The most "cultureless" place on earth. But they can't take away our ice, damn it! Not without a weird look, anyway.
Can't an ad be successful just for being the cool kid in school?
Take this one for example. There's no real benefit being extolled. It's sheer humor that drives the engine of this spot.
I mean, an ad is pretty great when it can tout the benefits of the product and be entertaining. But does it always have to be that way? No, I don't think so.
Think back to your middle school days. Remember those popular kids? Did any one of them ever offer you some sort of benefit? Probably not. In most cases, they probably made you feel worse off than you actually were. Yet some how, they remained "popular", the envy of the group.
So when do you have to proclaim a benefit and when can you just play by the rules of social behavior and rise to the top through popularity? Cool kids are funny, they have parties, and sometimes they bring Terry Tate to work.
Today marks the official start of the "Random Comment Weekend."
Perhaps you've made a random comment this week at work or at play. Or perhaps someone's even sent a random comment in your direction. Or maybe, just maybe, a random comment has just now popped into your head and you're foaming at the mouth with the anticipation of sharing it.
Or not.
Whatever the case may be, post your random comment here. The Earth Thanks you. And so do I.
I usually find that "Christ, what an asshole." is a good answer for most everything. Someone else found it's also a good answer for every New Yorker's cartoon caption contest.
To which I reply, Christ, what an asshole. (Click the image to see the rest of Charles' take.)
PS - Here's the cartoon from last week. Still applies if you make asshole plural. And it's probably even more pertinent for this week's cartoon.
Well that's what David and Jean of Dallas, TX are getting. Or so it says on the giant tag under the giant ribbon. Right around the corner from my apartment is a 2.5 mile stretch of mansions and historic homes. And someone is getting one for Christmas.
It's called Swiss Avenue and it's got some of the oldest Texas money trapped up in it. This is one of the more moderate homes on the block. There are several in the $780k range. I'd imagine this one falls into that category. (The barrios around the corner can't be helping property value.)
I just thought this was a funny example of life imitating advertising. I mean, really. Who actually buys those gigantic bows and throws them on puppies, cars, and ...houses? And where do you even go to get a house-sized bow?
All I want for Christmas is an iPod Touch. No bows.
Every Monday morning, the boss-man here at the adshop conducts a Monday Morning Meeting. We tell boss-man (and everyone else in the crowd) what we've got going on in the coming week, and sometimes, a lucky someone gets to share work with the crowd that they find interesting.
Doesn't have to be recent work. In fact, it doesn't have to be advertising at all. But it usually has some sort of theme to it.
This Monday morning, we screened some of this year's best animated work. I found one spot quite interesting, and I hadn't seen it before. So, I share it with you:
So...I made reference to how these wedding dances apply to advertising. And here's how I think it works.
The first dance shown below is stunning in its own right. It's immaculately choreographed. It gets ooohs and aaaaahhs from the crowd. And at first glance, it seems to be quite original and eye-catching.
Then comes "first dance" #2. It feeds on the element of surprise. Shock-value, if you will. I find it 10x more entertaining than #1. But I also wonder if it's pushing it a little bit too far. This is a wedding, after all. Not Girls Gone Wild - Wedding Edition.
But in the end, I appreciate dance #2 more. It provides me unexpected entertainment when I'm ordinarily prepared to be bored out of my mind.
And there it is. Entertainment. To quote a blog that recently quoted a man "“People don’t read ads—they read what interests them, and sometimes it is an ad.” -Howard Gossage"
Weddings are pretty old. So is "the first dance." Unfortunately, they're typically as boring as income tax returns are to kids (or to most normal human adults.)
So in recent years, to spice things up a bit, couples have been taking dance lessons prior to the big day in order to choreograph moves to blow their onlookers away. You've probably seen one or two in your day. But an even newer trend is emerging these days. And I think both have their applications to advertising. I won't say what those are just yet. First watch them.
The first video is a fancy choreographed first dance. The second is of the new trend. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but watch them in order. It'll most probably influence the way you feel about both.
So many agencies are busy making immaculate sites for their clients, they hardly have time to make one for themselves. Here are a few who have found the time:
This particular part of the rings is what I remembered most - the red part.
